1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a particular program detection device, method, and program. More particularly, the present invention relates to a particular program detection device and a particular program detection method of detecting a particular program segment which is present in a program signal of a television, a radio, or the like, and also relates to a program for executing the method.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, as a method of detecting a particular program segment, such as a CM or the like, which is present in a television program or the like composed of audio and moving images or a radio program or the like composed only of audio, for example, a method of detecting points where audio or moving images change (scene change points), and determining a time interval between the scene change points to detect a particular program segment, is commonly known. Hereinafter, such a particular program detection method will be described with reference to FIG. 10.
FIG. 10 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary configuration of a conventional particular program detection device 100. The particular program detection device 100 comprises a video data read section 101, a detection sensitivity determining section 103, a scene change point detecting section 104, and a particular program determining section 105. The particular program detection device 100 sets an arbitrary threshold value for detection sensitivity, and based on the value, detects scene change points of audio or moving images in a program to detect a particular program.
The video data read section 101 reads out video data of a program from a storage device, a memory, or the like. A specific example of the video data read section 101 is a device of reading out video data from an HDD included in an HDD recorder, a DVD medium loaded in a DVD recorder, or the like. The detection sensitivity determining section 103 sets a detection sensitivity used when scene change points of audio or moving images are detected in the scene change point detecting section 104. The detection sensitivity corresponds to a threshold value with respect to a characteristic amount, which is a measure of changing of audio or moving images. The setting of the detection sensitivity may be arbitrarily changed by the user or may be fixed before shipment of the device.
The scene change point detecting section 104 detects scene change points of audio or moving images in accordance with the detection sensitivity set by the detection sensitivity determining section 103. A scene change point can be detected using either or both of moving image data and audio data. In the case of image data, examples of a scene change point includes a light intensity change point, a blackout inserted point, and the like. In the case of audio data, an example of a scene change point is a point where a level of audio data becomes a predetermined value or less.
The particular program determining section 105 uses a time interval between scene change points detected by the scene change point detecting section 104 to determine a particular program segment. For example, in the case of CMs, a CM usually has a duration of 15 seconds, 30 seconds, 60 seconds, or 90 seconds, and therefore, in order to detect a CM segment, it is determined whether or not the time interval takes one of these values. In this manner, the conventional particular program detection device 100 detects a CM segment in a program signal.
[Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent No. 2858758